MOOOC T1 Lesson 8: String Quartet

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[Guitareben]

2:35 Even small bits in the video like that are priceless... what a list of composers!

[Schwallex]

Your mixed metaphors are so delightful.
"I see the second violin as a rock. Upon which the first violin can soar to greater heights."
Take that, birds. Wings are for wusses. Real men use rocks instead.
You've heard it here first.

[georgepantzikis]

Beautifully done; a brilliant, professional and thoroughly interesting lecture. I will definitely be using these tips and techniques in my future string quartet compositios.

[FictionWriter]

Just a heads up, the Haydn quartet featured at 15:03 is actually Op. *_20_* No. 4 in D, not Op. 3 No. 4 (which is in B-flat, and probably not written by Haydn)

[MehdiD.Ardebili]

Unbelievably fantastic video! Excellent clarity of presentation, great explanations, musical excerpts and highlighting!

[nloc]

Watching this whole series has made me realise how poorly written my previous string compositions are...
I have a lot of research and score reading to do before I embark upon writing my first string quartet.
Thank you Mr Goss for putting these online for free, you have already made me a better composer :-)

[guilherme___]

What a masterpiece! Inspiring conclusion as well. Thank you for every single video in 2016!

[natasasouka-simou]

Thank you Thomas, your resources are always the best.

[shacharh]

Shostakovich and Milhaud are my favourite string quartet composers :-)

[ChristopherFryman]

This is one of my favourite videos. learning so much.

[da]

For someone whose dream is to compose for an ensemble, this is fantastic!

[itznoxy]

Just what I needed right now! Thank you Thomas and happy new year!

[tarzan]

Hi Thomas one of the best lesson.Thank you

[IamNexusLOL]

thanks for uploading this Course and have a happy new year

[richardboyer]

Thank you it will help me in my amateur orchestration

[caterscarrots]

So there are a few reasons why I have disappeared for a while. First off is that my facebook account got disabled for no reason. I sent an appeal to Facebook but they haven't reenabled my account. Second is that I have been busy with college lately. But I am on break now and am thinking of taking the next semester off. But there is yet another reason. I have been working recently on a piano sonata. But not just any old piano sonata. This one has a deadline. And it is really specific too, being 1/27/2019. You probably wouldn't think anything of it except a random date I chose as a deadline. However, I chose this date for a reason.

Mozart is the composer who gave me the inspiration to compose when I was in my teens. He still influences me a great deal, just a little less than Beethoven. Also he was born on January 27. So this sonata not only has a deadline, but the deadline is Mozart's birthday. So it makes sense that I am dedicating this sonata to Mozart. Thus I am doing it in the style of Mozart.

I was able to make a Mozartian spin off of the Ode to Joy theme, really easily actually. I slightly modified the right hand so it didn't have any of those non-diatonic notes(so I have Bb where in a literal transposition, there would be a B natural) and made the left hand almost exclusively 16th note alberti bass. I also transposed the whole theme to F major because it is the secondary theme of my sonata and since my sonata is in Bb, overall, F fits in way better than the original key of D. And I found that it is very easy for me to sing "Happy Birthday Mozart" to.

I got the entire exposition down, now to develop it. It is so hard to choose. I mean, I think the Ode to Joy theme would be better to develop because it has more measures than any other component of my exposition and that the part with the scales and half cadence would be the worst because with a scale, you can move it up or down x steps, change key, change note speed, but that's about it. Same for the cadence. But really, all I have down is a specific modulation sequence starting with D minor and than going through the majors from D major to F major for the dominant preparation. Nothing else.

I know Mozart is telling me in my head to just go with the flow like he did with his compositions but then I'm like "What flow? I see several brances of this river of composition right at the development section that go very far apart from each other and only come back during the recapitulation(which could mean a long journey)"

I was wondering if you Thomas Goss could help me here.

[caterscarrots]

I am writing a Scherzo for a string quartet and there is one thing that I can't decide on. That is whether to keep the eighth notes detache or slur them in 2 note groups. Detache means detached, I know that. But aren't the articulations of eighth notes clear on string instruments regardless of whether or not they are detache, especially at fast tempos?

So then, if eighth note articulations are clear regardless and detache is generally used for clearer articulations, what are the advantages of detache over slurred notes at fast tempos, besides possibly making the leading into staccato slightly easier?

[jonasforsberg]

Hello, and thanks for these invaluable resources. I was wondering of you've done any analysis of string quartets with a double bass added. I'm a bass player myself, and have always been a little envious of the string quartet players with all the material out there. I don't want to play "Die Forelle" all the time. If I have to write original material, couldn't it be interesting to examine how the roles of the instruments change if it's a quintet instead?

[lucianng]

Hi, does the MOOOC T2 exist and how can I access it?

[AlexBrownMusic]

Thank you for your incredible videos - learning so much!